Neither the Government of Kerala nor the Government of India can use it for public benefit. They have, on the other hand, the onerous burden of providing extra-ordinary security to the treasures.
The aim of Hindu religion is gnaana (true knowledge) and vairagya (renunciation). Accumulation of gold, diamonds and precious stones is a hindrance in the path of gnaana and vairagya.
Then how is it that the temple could accumulate so much gold?
Answer: The temple priests and the rulers of Thiruvanantapuram (Trivandrum) behaved like male and female serpants embracing in intercourse. The rulers might have thought that they prospered and enjoyed longevity with the grace of the deity in the Temple. The priests encouraged the rulers to continue with that belief, because it benefited the priests and temple. The rulers also found that as they were the hereditary trustees of the temple, they might have taken it as a secondary reserve for hoarding their gold.
Thiruvananthapuram had one advantage. It was on the southernmost edge of the Indian peninsula. It was extremely difficult for Islamic invaders of the 11th to 18th Centuries to reach that place for pillaging and ransacking. Hence, the treasures of the Padmanabha Temple remained secure, whereas the temples of the Kakatiyas, Rashtrakutas, PratIharas and sEnAs, lost their treasures to the Moghul and Turkish looters.
It is not in a real sense difficult today, in spite of closed circuit cameras, metal detectors and mandatory frisking, for fraudsters, pilferers, burglers, robbers, and numerous others to empty the temple treasures. The temple treasures might have remained safe, probably because few people knew the magnitude of treasure lying there. Even the Trustees and the Royal Family members of Thiruvananthapuram might not have known about the magnitude of the moolah lying there.
We see in some Hollywood films, plots of burglars browbeating the guards and alarm systems to steal valuables in museums etcetera. Yet, the Governments have no alternative except to place them in exhibitions and museums. If they lie in public glare, at least, people will be in the knowledge that a particular thing existed. Some newspaper or TV channel at sometime or other will raise the issues of their safety. The existence of the treasures will not be forgotten, a la the Thiruvananthapuram Affair.
To quote an example, very few people know that huge treasures belonging to the Nizam's period existed, and that they might have moved out of India for auctioning at an appropriate time (when people forget).
It is in the fitness of things that Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (T.T.D.) is trying to melt some part of the gold by sending to mints , and sell the minted coins to devotees as mementos. This facilitates circulation of the metal from devotees to temple, temple to mint, mint to temple, and temple to devotees. India is one of the largest importers of gold in the world. Melting of gold by temple for resale as coins-dollars in a way obviates the need for imports.
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